Improvement in hats



UNITED STATEs PATENT OEEIcE.

HENRY C. HULBERT AND ALONZO FOLLETT, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEM ENT IN HATS.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 81,089, dated August 18,1868.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, HENRY C. HULBERT and ALONZO FOLLETT, both ofBrooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of NewYork, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Coverings for the Head, such asbonnets and hats; and that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription and specification of our said invention.

Our invention consists, first, of the combination of a body of stockinetor looped fabric,

` our invention; but the scale upon which it is drawn is too small toenable the embossed surface to be represented. Fig. 2 represents a smallfragment of stockinet cloth, such as we have used, and before it isnapped. Fig. v

3 represents a magnified view of the said cloth.

The mode in which we have produced our new combinations with success inmanufacturing ladies hats is as follows: We procure stockinet cloth,such as is represented at Fig. 2, formed by knitting cotton yarns 'bymeans of knitting-machines, in the usual manner. This material is nappedin the piece by the ordinary machinery and process employed forproducing the nap upon the article generally known as cotton-annel orCanton iannel 5 but we prefer to have the cloth napped on both sides.The napped stockinet cloth is sized in the piece by brushing it with asize which is composed of glue, starch, and water, in the proportions ofone pound of glue and one of starch to two quarts of water. The size isprepared by heating the materials, and it is applied in a warm state tothe fabric. The sized fabric is hung up in a warm room until it is dry 5then it is dampened by sprinkling it with water, rolling it up, andpermitting it to lie in the piece.

The damp fabric is cut into circular pieces,

of suitable size for the hats to be made, and is pressed into the shapeof a hat by subjecting it to the4 action of a pair of hot dies similarlto those used in pressing bonnet-frames. In this operation the sheet offabric is strained into shape over the convex die, and the concave dieis brought down upon it by means of a treadle.V The bodies thus producedhave the general form of the finished hat.

The bodies being thus prepared, we coat them with a composition preparedas follows, viz: White French zinc, eight ounces; indiarubber, twelveounces, dissolved in one gallon of benzine 5' benzine Dammar varnish,eight ounces.

The French zinc is -first ground up with castor-oil, a sufficientquantity of the latter being used to make the mixture of about the sameconsistency as that of the paints sold in the market as ground in oil 5then the French of the natural straw which the complete article isintended to imitate, which may be done by stirring-into the compositiona small quantity of a saturated solution of pi'cric acid in water. Atea-spoonful of said solution will impart a straw tint to a pint of thecomposition 5 but the quantity of the coloringmaterial and the kind ofmaterial that is used may be varied according to the taste and judgmentof the operator.

The hat-bodies are brushed over on their exteriors with the compositionin such manner as to give them a thin even coating of it. They are thenpermitted to dry, until they cease to be sticky to the touch, afterwhich they are pressed lightly in smooth-faced dies, such as abovereferred to, so as to lay the napped surface smooth. The pressed bodiesare coated once again on their exteriors and once on their interiorswith a thin coat of the composition, applied with a brush in the samemanner as the rst coat, and are permitted to dry after the applicationof each coat until they cease to be sticky to the touch. Lastly, a thickcoat of the composition is applied with a brush to the interiors of thebodies, and they are then permitted to dry as before.

After the last coating-has become dryy upon `the bodies, a varnish ofcollodion is applied to them with a brush. The collodion varnish whichwe have used is the same solution of gun-cotton as that used forphotographic purposes, with the addition of from four to ten drops ofcastor-oil to each fluid-ounce of the solution, according to thepliability which the hat is to possess, the largest quantity ofcastor-oil corresponding with the greatest pliability. Two coats 'ofthis varnish are applied to the hat-bodies, each coat being allowed todry separately. After the last coatingis drythe surface of each body ispunctured with a needle, at least three or four punctures being made ineach square inch of surface, ythe object of which is to permit airtoescape from between the coatings at the exterior and interior of thebody; and in this condition the bodies are ready for the action of theembossing-dies, by means of which the required embossed surface isimparted to them, and the articles are consolidated. l

We prefer to make the embossing-dies by depositing a shell of copper, bymeans of a galvanic battery, directly upon the surface of a hat ofnatural straw, of the form and size of the hats to be made, and to backup the shell with type-metal, according to the process devised by HenryLoewenberg, for making strawfaced dies. Ve use two dies, one for theinterior of the body and thc other for the exterior. They are fitted ina strong press, capable of exerting a forcible pressure-say, of livehundred pounds to the square inch of surfacethe kind of press wey preferto use being a hydraulic press. vThe dies are warmed .to a temperatureof about 1000, and the pressure must be suicient to make the surface ofthe body correspond with that of the dies. The pressed hats are removedfrom the dies, and, as this operation is apt to distort their shapesomewhat, each hat is afterward subjected to a light pressure between apair of smooth dies of the form of the finished hat. The hats are thentrimmed to suit the taste of the manufacturer.

Although we prefer to manufacture hats embodying our new combinations inthe above mode, we do not confine ourselves to that precise mode, as itmay be greatly varied. Thus, for example, we have manufactured hatsaccording' to our invention out of plain or unnapped stockinet cloth. Wehave also manufactured them of stockinet cloth napped on only one side,and after coating the bodies with the pliable coating, and varnishingthem on the napped side only, and imparting the required surface bypressure in dies, we have put two thicknesses of the material together,so as to form ahat of double thickness throughout, the two thicknessesbeing united by sewing at the rim, and the embossed surfaces beingreversed so as to show on the exterior of the outer thickness and on theinterior of the inner thickness. Again, we have made hats in likemanner, with the crown of one thickness and the brim of two thicknesses.We have also greatly varied the composition of the pliable coating, butthat before given is the best we have thus far used.

Although we prefer to manufacture hats and other coverings for the headso as to embody both parts of our invention, we have manufacturedhead-coverin gs embodying each partof our invention without the other.Thus, we have used the rst part of our invention without the second byapplying a coating of benzine, Dammar varnish, French zinc, starch,glue, and coloring materials, without indiarubber, to thestockinet-bodies, the various operations in other respects beingconducted as before described. Again, we have embodied the second partof our invention without the first by forming the hat-body out of theordinary woven cotton-annel, and treating it in. other respects asbefore described.

Stockinet cloth, however, as a material for hats, is a very superiorarticle to woven cloth, because the great extensibility of the formermaterial permits the entire hat-body to be made of one piece ofmaterial, even when there are great variations fromv a` plane surface.Thus, for example, a ladys hat, such asis represented at Fig. 1 in theaccompanying drawing, in which the crown a and brim b are substantiallyat right angles with each other, or a mans hat, can be made entirely ofone piece of stockinet cloth, thus obviating the expense of joiningseveral pieces together, and the appearance of the seams. 0n the otherhand, the india-rubber composition possesses the duplex advantages ofpliability without risk of cracking,and repellance to water; hence it itis superior to all compositions that we are aware of as a coating forcoverings for the head, having an embossed surface.

Having thus described the several modes in which we have contemplatedthe application ofthe principle or character of our invention, what weclaim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination of a body of stockinet, of the form of thehead-covering required, with a pliable coating, the said combinationbeing consolidated by pressure between dies, substantially as before setforth.

v 2. The combination of a cloth body, of the' form of the head-coveringrequired, with an embossed coating composed of india-rubber,substantially as before set forth.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands this 6th day ofMarch, A. D. 1868.

H. C. HULBERT. ALONZO FOLLETT Witnesses:

JOHN RATHBONE, Jr., W. L. BENNEM.

